The Great Tragedy

“One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession, between doing and saying. A persistent schizophrenia leaves so many of us tragically divided against ourselves. On the one hand, we proudly profess certain sublime and noble principles, but on the other hand, we sadly practice the very antithesis of these principles. How often are our lives characterized by a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds! We talk eloquently about our commitment to the principles of Christianity, and yet our lives are saturated with the practices of paganism. We proclaim our devotion to democracy, but we sadly practice the very opposite of the democratic creed. We talk passionately about peace, and at the same time we assiduously prepare for war. We make our fervent pleas for the high road of justice, and then we tread unflinchingly the low road of injustice. This strange dichotomy, this agonizing gulf between the ought and the is, represents the tragic theme of man's earthly pilgrimage.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

The Path to Glory

Still borrowing from JT, who borrowed from Powlison, who borrowed from Warfield.

Read the below with your leadership lenses on. Imagine if more leaders fit the description. What would happen if you (or I) did?

. . . . . on to GLORY . . . . .

David Powlison says that the last page or so of B. B. Warfield’s sermon “Imitating the Incarnation” “offers the most riveting description of the goal of Christian living that I’ve ever read.”

Here is an excerpt:
It is not to this that Christ’s example calls us.
He did not cultivate self, even His divine self: He took no account of self.
He was not led by His divine impulse out of the world, driven back into the recesses of His own soul to brood morbidly over His own needs, until to gain His own seemed worth all sacrifice to Him.
He was led by His love for others into the world, to forget Himself in the needs of others, to sacrifice self once for all upon the altar of sympathy.
Self-sacrifice brought Christ into the world. And self-sacrifice will lead us, His followers, not away from but into the midst of men.
Wherever men suffer, there will we be to comfort.
Wherever men strive, there will we be to help.
Wherever men fail, there will be we to uplift.
Wherever men succeed, there will we be to rejoice.
Self-sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows: it means absorption in them.
It means forgetfulness of self in others.
It means entering into every man’s hopes and fears, longings and despairs: it means manysidedness of spirit, multiform activity, multiplicity of sympathies.
It means richness of development.
It means not that we should live one life, but a thousand lives,—binding ourselves to a thousand souls by the filaments of so loving a sympathy that their lives become ours.
It means that all the experiences of men shall smite our souls and shall beat and batter these stubborn hearts of ours into fitness for their heavenly home.
It is, after all, then, the path to the highest possible development, by which alone we can be made truly men. Not that we shall undertake it with this end in view. This were to dry up its springs at their source. We cannot be self-consciously self-forgetful, selfishly unselfish.
Only, when we humbly walk this path, seeking truly in it not our own things but those of others, we shall find the promise true, that he who loses his life shall find it.
Only, when, like Christ, and in loving obedience to His call and example, we take no account of ourselves, but freely give ourselves to others, we shall find, each in his measure, the saying true of himself also: “Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him.”
The path of self-sacrifice is the path to glory.

Gone Before . . .

This weekend as the ship entered port after nearly a month at sea I prepared to stand duty only to be relieved this morning and proceed to enjoy one of the best breakfasts in recent memory (you do not know good food until you’ve been at sea for a time without it!). It gave me time to think and be thankful. I have been consuming an amazing book during this last underway, having desired to read it for far too long, entitled "Last Stand of a Tin Can Sailor." In the midst of the types of operations we were conducting it was a surreal experience to think on this narrative. The story is about the Battle of Samar during World War II and the men who fought in it. Reflecting on the amazing heroism of the Sailors and Officers on those ships and in those aircraft on that day have stirred awe in my belly and tears in my eyes. So, I think of them and I pray today for those on land and sea that are doing the Nation's work as instruments of restoration and relief in the broken places of world. Consider for a moment if those men and women of another generation and of this one did not do what they did. Would you, would all of us, be able to enjoy our breakfast this morning in the same way? They did, and they continue to do, what they did so that we can continue to do what we do all the while too often taking it all for granted. For those who have stood the watch I rise up, stand at attention and salute in humble gratefulness.

Sin In Strengths

I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips . . .
~The Prophet Isaiah

Recognizing that the greatest instrument I have as a leader is communication (verbal, written, non-verbal) and with a desire to see this tool refined, I have been working through an excellent book on the topic entitled, "The Power of Words and the Wonder of God." There are so, so many profound statements that smack me in the heart each morning as I ponder a piece contained in this compilation that I am inclined to post them as a reminder for me later and a way to close my learning loop (it helps me to write it down). So, over the next week or so I'll share some of wisdom written by these able authors and trust that it will edify and serve you as much as it has me.

". . . it is in the very instrument God has called me to use, in the very area of my life in which others call me 'gifted,' that sin has most deeply entangled itself. We foolishly assume that our real struggles with sin are in the areas we are 'weak.' We do not well understand the depth of sin until we realize that it has made its home far more subtly where we are 'strong.' and in our gifts rather than in our weaknesses and inadequacies. It is in the very giftedness God has given that sin has been at its most perverse and subtle! But when we are brought to see this, stripped bare of our layers of self-deceit, and led to repentance, then God may make something of us."
~ Sinclair B. Ferguson

Believe or Repent?

People don't do what they believe in - they just do what's most convenient and then repent.
~ Bob Dylan

We all live in an endless series of little moments. The character of a life isn't set in ten big moments. The character of a life is set in ten thousand little moments of everyday life. Is there a place right now where how you live is not consistent with what you say you believe?
~ Paul Tripp

Just Uneasiness - Nothing More

A quote in the article posted earlier this week, Solitude In Leadership, from the book Heart of Darkness, describing the type of leader (the term is applied loosely) that is, unfortunately, too often “successful” (again, used loosely) in a bureaucracy (such as the Navy):

"He was commonplace in complexion, in features, in manners, and in voice. He was of middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold. . . . Otherwise there was only an indefinable, faint expression of his lips, something stealthy—a smile—not a smile—I remember it, but I can’t explain. . . . He was a common trader, from his youth up employed in these parts—nothing more. He was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect. He inspired uneasiness. That was it! Uneasiness. Not a definite mistrust—just uneasiness—nothing more. You have no idea how effective such a . . . a . . . faculty can be. He had no genius for organizing, for initiative, or for order even. . . . He had no learning, and no intelligence. His position had come to him—why? . . . He originated nothing, he could keep the routine going—that’s all. But he was great. He was great by this little thing that it was impossible to tell what could control such a man. He never gave that secret away. Perhaps there was nothing within him. Such a suspicion made one pause."

“. . . inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect. He inspired uneasiness.” These words struck me. I have/do work for and with such leaders. Just uneasiness, nothing more is all that they foster. May it be that I/we never leave doubt as to the Reason and the passion which drives us as leaders.

Leadership Litmus Test

As I was in church this past Easter Sunday I wondered how many people were there for the first time since Christmas or for the first time since last Easter. My mind quickly flashed with excitement to the hope that I would see one of my Sailors visiting the church. Then I pondered and aspired anew to this simple test for Christian leadership in the workplace:

How now shall I lead that should I be surprised to meet one of my subordinates at church they would not be surprised to see me there as well? To put it another way; would one of my Sailors, Chiefs, Division Officers, or Senior Officers see a disparity between who I am on the ship and who they expect to find at church? Would there be Christ-shaming hypocrisy found in the way that I lead those I am entrusted to care for?

My prayer is that by grace the gap would be minimal between who I am inside the lifelines and who I am outside them - that there would be true and evident integrity of character in all facets of my life - and that it would bring greater glory to the Lord as a result.